FILLING HOLES AT 2 SPOTS KEY FOR AZTECS

Tight end and corner at top of Long’s list

The search to replace Gavin Escobar at tight end and Leon McFadden at cornerback is on.

As San Diego State’s 2013 football campaign began Monday afternoon, coach Rocky Long professed that the Aztecs’ two greatest “need” positions this spring are at tight end and corner.

The Aztecs lost Escobar and seniors D.J. Shields and Hunter Hewitt at the tight end position after last season.

To shore up depth at the position, Robert Craighead moved back to tight end after spending last season as a defensive lineman.

While it’s still early, Long seemed to like what he saw from the 6-foot-3, 265-pound redshirt sophomore at practice on Monday.

“I thought Craighead caught the ball better than I anticipated he would,” Long said. “I think with his size, he’d be a good blocker. Our question mark was whether he could catch the ball, and he caught the ball just fine today.”

Plugging holes at cornerback is also important because 2012 starter McFadden is currently at the NFL Combine, and his mirror on the right side, Josh Wade, has exhausted his eligibility. King Holder, who started one game in place of Wade, won’t be able to participate in spring practice because he’s recuperating from shoulder surgery.

Long said the competition is wide open at cornerback, and while the coaches hope to come out of spring with a couple of corners they can trust, they’re also not opposed to waiting to see what the freshmen can do when they join the team this fall.

SDSU signed six defensive backs in its 2013 recruiting class.

“There’s a couple of corners coming into this class,” Long said, adding that they could get a look from the coaches in August, but that he’d “much rather have two to three of (the returning) guys prove they can play and have confidence in them instead of worrying about a freshman playing.”

Competition at QB?

Adam Dingwell completed 57.6 percent of his passes last year and threw for 939 yards and eight touchdowns.

Good enough that Long said he “deserves to start out spring practice as the starter.”

But not rock-solid enough that the coach is willing to just gift him with the job in 2013.

“I think we’re going to compete at quarterback,” Long said.

The Aztecs have six quarterbacks competing for time this spring. Two are newcomers: Chase Favreau, a grayshirt signee from 2012, and Quinn Kaehler, a walk-on transfer from Diablo Valley College.

New offense?

Bob Toledo’s offense isn’t too different from the scheme the Aztecs played under former offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig.

It’s similar enough that Long said he expects the team to be at full speed with Toledo’s system by the end of the first week of spring practice.

“They’ve already looked at it. The players have seen it,” he said. “The terminology is a little different, but it’s not much different than what we did before.”

Holes on the OL

The Aztecs also lost two four-year starters on the offensive line in right guard Nik Embernate and center Alec Johnson.